PLAYER/MICHAEL OWENMichael Owen scored his first goal for Newcastle in 18 months when he struck in its English League Cup win over Barnsley on Wednesday, and he will look to score his first Premier League goal since hitting a hat trick against West Ham in December 2005 when Newcastle faces Wigan on Saturday.

Owen downplayed the importance of the goal against lowly Barnsley.

"I'm not relieved in any way," he told the Newcastle Chronicle. "I'm just happy I can go home like any other player looking forward to training and the game on Saturday, because I haven't been able to do that for some time."

TV: FOX SOCCER CHANNEL NEWCASTLE-WIGAN, Saturday (delay), 5 pm.COACH/ROY KEANERoy Keane returns to Old Trafford, where he spent 12 years as a player, on Saturday when he leads Sunderland against Manchester United in EPL action. He won seven Premier League titles with United and has been often mentioned as a possible successor to Sir Alex Ferguson as United manager.

Keane is hurting, though, from the 3-0 loss to League Championship (second-level) team Luton in the second round of the League Cup on Tuesday, a day before celebrating his first anniversary as Sunderland boss.

"It's a massive challenge for me, but I knew that even when we won promotion five months ago," said Keane. "I wasn't thinking that we'd made it then and I'm not thinking it's the end of the world now."

MATCHUP/HAMBURG-BAYERN MUNICH Bayern Munich looks to maintain its perfect record when it travels to Hamburg on Sunday, but it will be short-handed. Franck Ribery, Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose, the trio of new signings to its attack, are all doubtful with injuries. Bayern is first in the Bundesliga with three wins by a margin of 10-0.

As for Hamburg, fifth with two wins and a loss, few expected hot transfer prospect Rafael van der Vaart to be still around. But now that a deal to send him to Valencia fell through and the summer transfer curtain about to fall, he insists, "If I've started a season in one club, I want to finish it there as well," he said.

TV: GOL TV HAMBURG-BAY. MUNICH, Sunday (live), 11 am.

MATCHUP/ATLANTE-SANTOS Only last spring, Santos was on the verge of relegation. Now the Laguna club, which has been playing two Mexican-Americans, Edgar Castillo and Sonny Guadarrama, leads all teams in Mexico's First Division with five wins in five games. It leads Atlante by four points going into their showdown on Saturday in Atlante's new home, Cancun.